Knitting away...

I was re-inspired after my thrifty yarn shopping trip and cast on a new project the next day.  Using the heavy salmon colored (what may or may not technically be) yarn I knit up a handbag.  I had to seam the sides together with a different yarn and I can see it peeking through and that gave me the idea of a shoulder strap, maybe a brown leather kind, that would run down the side of the purse.  No pics yet as it's not really finished yet, but whenever I get around to getting a strap on it, I'll post some.

After asking DH what he might like knit, I cast on a pair of socks using Universal Yarns/Wisdom Yarns San Francisco.  It's about as small a yarn/needle combo I am willing to do, but the yarn is self patterning so interestingly, I'm actually thinking of getting more to do for myself!  

I had recently read (or heard on a podcast?) that when knitting socks one should actually use either the smallest needle suggested or maybe even smaller.  This creates a denser fabric and helps stop the sole of the sock from becoming holey.  Recently a (doomed from the beginning) sock I knit for myself starting getting holes in the sole so I'm more aware of the issue and am hoping the size 3 needles are creating a tight enough weave on DHs sock.

The next cast on project was a snood.  I enjoyed the lace pattern I'd been working on the recently ordered hats so much I wanted one for myself and thought something bigger would be nice, something I could tuck my hair into and go.  Well, I'm pretty far along on this and have realized it can't be a snood.  Not exactly sure what the main factor is (yarn to thick, knitting to tight), but it's not floppy enough to work as a snood.  So, it's looking more like a baggy beanie hat.  This project seems to have mind changing effects because I'd also planned on dying it once complete (it's a cream color now) but the pattern and color look so nice together I'm having a hard time justifying the dye job.  Perhaps it will not even end up for me!  

My most recent cast on is another hat with my lace pattern dejour in a bright blue shade.  I have a recipient in mind who I am thinking of donating it to.  I don't know them too well, but she is a young breast cancer survivor going through chemo and I think it would be a nice surprise.

Well, back to my current routine of Netflix watching and knitting...

Thriftiness strikes again!

Not sure if it's the warm weather today or what but I was itching to check out the thrift shop for yarn...  So I set out and I was in luck!  

As you can see this is a rather eclectic group :-)  A dig to the bottom of a bin of "crafty" magazines found the 1960's vest pattern leaflet.  Then I went through the yarn they had on the shelf.  There were a good amount of skeins compared to previous excursions but no extraordinary finds this time.  I did manage to keep in the retro mood and grab two Kmart brand yarns along with a couple other more current brands and some unknowns.  

I skimmed through the pattern enough while in the store to know it was one knit and one crochet, however I did not realize until later that the flower motif on the knit vest and hat were not incorporated into the pattern but added later.  Now I'm not sure that I'll be using this pattern but I'm still happy with the find!

I know at least two of the yarns will make a good purse but not really sure what I'll be doing with the others.  The red Kmart yarn is a pretty big skein so I'm trying to think of a larger project it might be nice for.  I'm lucky to have found two skeins of the blue Red Heart so that can be something a little larger as well.